Today we learn about the Minamata disease, the first pollution related sickness. The problem was created by a chemical company Chisso which discharged chemical affluent that contained methyl mercury. The people ate fishes caught from the polluted sea water and fell sick. The doctors could not identify the cause of the illness and as more and more people fell sick, people become more and more fearful and anxiety built up among the people. Eventually after research and experimentation with samples collected from different sources, they found out that it was due to the polluted seawater.
What was most appalling was the fact that the company already knew that chemical affluent discharged caused the people to fall sick and yet they still continued to pour tons and tons of toxins into the sea disregarding the health of people. People who were affected by the disease often have uncontrolled convulsion, slur of speech and difficulty in walking. Other than affecting the health of people, this also created a lot of economical and social problems. Many people's livelihoods were affected. Many of them were fishermen and they were not able to catch fishes nor sell the fishes that they had caught. They also faced discrimination from other people as some believed that this was an infectious disease. The irresponsible act from the company resulted in many adverse effects to people. Till this date the issue has not been completely resolved. The company had stopped the production of these harmful chemicals.
The seawater was cleaned and the Minamata bay reclaimed so as to bury the sludge which was accumulated from 30 years of discharge. The sludge was merely buried underground waiting for another round of disaster to happen? Only time can tell. The only blessing in disguise is that this incident had taught people to become more aware of the environment and the need to take good care of the environment that they live in. For instance, they would slot their waste into 22 different recyclable categories and the use of environmentally friendly soap. Hope their effort would spread and influence the people from the rest of the world to follow suit, to take the first step to protecting our ONLY EARTH…
Ms Fu Shin Hui
What was most appalling was the fact that the company already knew that chemical affluent discharged caused the people to fall sick and yet they still continued to pour tons and tons of toxins into the sea disregarding the health of people. People who were affected by the disease often have uncontrolled convulsion, slur of speech and difficulty in walking. Other than affecting the health of people, this also created a lot of economical and social problems. Many people's livelihoods were affected. Many of them were fishermen and they were not able to catch fishes nor sell the fishes that they had caught. They also faced discrimination from other people as some believed that this was an infectious disease. The irresponsible act from the company resulted in many adverse effects to people. Till this date the issue has not been completely resolved. The company had stopped the production of these harmful chemicals.
The seawater was cleaned and the Minamata bay reclaimed so as to bury the sludge which was accumulated from 30 years of discharge. The sludge was merely buried underground waiting for another round of disaster to happen? Only time can tell. The only blessing in disguise is that this incident had taught people to become more aware of the environment and the need to take good care of the environment that they live in. For instance, they would slot their waste into 22 different recyclable categories and the use of environmentally friendly soap. Hope their effort would spread and influence the people from the rest of the world to follow suit, to take the first step to protecting our ONLY EARTH…
Ms Fu Shin Hui
11:34 PM |
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